To cat, or not to cat, that is the question...

[Possegal]

I got my first kitty that was all mine when I lived in an apartment while in grad school. I had a closet that I could slightly pull the door open and then put her litter box on the floor in there, but on the side of the closet that the door was closed on. It was a small apartment and I could never smell the litter. In my house, with them a floor below me, I'm more lax at cleaning them out and so they are more likely to get a little smelly.

My contractor just made a little kitty door in a closet door for a friend of mine, and she leaves the litter box in there. The cat can come and go, but the closed door keeps the smell from spreading too much.

I'm glad you are asking so many questions and giving it so much thought. It is certainly a commitment and there are, as with all things, definitely some negative aspects that I could do without. But right now my Maeve is tucked in my bent knees and my Finbar is on the cushion behind me with his head on my shoulder, and I don't much care that they sometimes smell and have a real affinity for the breakfast counter.

See, Maeve even likes watching the Tour de France with me. (Did I mention I could do without them thinking I had the built-in bookcase put in to be a cat jungle gym?)